The development of detergent builders has been influenced in recent years in general by an expansion of phosphate-free detergents. Zeolite A is the most frequent builder replacement for phosphate. Because of the slower exchange kinetics of the zeolite with Ca.sup.++ ions, phosphate-free powdery and liquid detergents and cleaning agents also require, in addition to the main builder, zeolite A, so-called co-builders such as e.g. soda, polycarboxylates, NTA, silicates or hydroxycarboxylates.
Conventional builder additives are currently polymeric carboxylic acids and their salts. For example, homopolymers of acrylic acid or copolymers based on acrylic acid with maleic acid, such as those described in Published German Patent Applications 20 25 238, 20 44 601, in European Application EP 0 137 669 or in Published German Patent Application DE 36 04 223 A1, are preferred for detergents and cleaning agents. These products contribute to the washing performance of detergents by improving their soil and redeposition power:
On the one hand, they prevent the dirt from redepositing on the articles being washed, which can cause an undesirable greying of the textiles, and on the other hand they reduce the deposition of inorganic salts (incrustation) on those articles.
Polycarboxylates in conjunction with zeolites or phyllosilicates are known from, among others, EP 0 401 780.
It has been found that the secondary washing effects of greying and incrustation could be reduced by commercial polycarboxylates; however, a further optimization of these co-builders is desirable in order to improve the effectiveness of detergents and to further improve, at the same time, the useful properties of textiles.